Houston Attorney to Argue ERISA Case at U.S. Supreme Court

David A. Furlow, a accomplice in the Houston appointment of Thompson & Knight, will present articulate arguments afore the Supreme Court of the United States on Tuesday, Oct. 7. In apery the plaintiff in the case, Kennedy v. DuPont, Furlow will argue that the DuPont Corporation acted break in distributing alimony funds to an employee’s ex-wife who had waived her rights to those allowances as allotment of a annulment decree.

The Court’s decision, accepted in mid-2009, will accept ample implications for corporations and account plan administrators, their advisers and in accurate for plan participants who annulment their spouse. Based on civic abstracts for alimony affairs and the amount of divorces accepted anniversary year, the cardinal could affect some 300,000 to 400,000 divorcing advisers and their brood annually.

Furlow is apery the acreage of the backward William P. Kennedy, a Texas citizen and longtime actor in a accumulation and investment plan administered by his employer, DuPont. After his afterlife in 2001, DuPont awarded added than $400,000 in allowances to Mr. Kennedy’s ex-wife, although she had ahead waived all rights to her husband’s alimony allowances if the brace afar in 1994. DuPont responded that Mr. Kennedy had never submitted any abstracts removing or replacing his wife as beneficiary, and that the acceding accomplished by the brace in their annulment adjustment was invalid beneath the federal ERISA standards that administer agent retirement plans.

As abettor of her father’s estate, the couple’s babe filed clothing adjoin the aggregation in federal commune court, which after captivated that Mr. Kennedy’s acreage should accept the benefits. The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals chaotic that decision, award that ERISA’s “anti-alienation” accoutrement preempted the accompaniment annulment decree.

Countering that appeals cloister ruling, Furlow will altercate that appropriately accomplished waivers of account rights such as Mrs. Kennedy’s should be upheld and that Mr. Kennedy’s acreage is the able and allowable almsman of his investment funds.

“Divorcing couples should accurately accept that the agreements they ability in accompaniment cloister apropos assets are accurate and are accustomed beneath federal accepted law,” says Furlow. “A accommodation that these waivers and decrees are not accustomed could advance to an advancing alternation of arbitrary and air-conditioned after-effects and abjure the rights and expectations of abounding alimony plan participants and beneficiaries.”

The Employee Retirement Security Act of 1974, now accepted as ERISA, set minimum standards of conduct for clandestine alimony affairs and includes rules on taxation and acknowledgment of advice in adjustment to assure the interests of agent account plan participants and their beneficiaries. Under ERISA, a divorcing apron have to book a Qualified Domestic Relations Order in adjustment to abandon the appropriate to the added spouse’s alimony benefits.

Crestron Announces New Adagio® Marketing Manager

Crestron afresh appear the adjustment of Keith Kennedy as its new Product Marketing Manager for the Adagio® ancestors of home ball solutions. Kennedy, who comes to Crestron from Niles Audio Corporation, will be based in Crestron’s Rockleigh headquarters. Kennedy is a accomplished cyberbanking custom accession and technology able with 25 years of industry acquaintance that spans abounding industry functions. He is a ample architecture architect and custom installer with a accurate history of affiliation experience.

Kennedy will be amenable for the sales and business of the Adagio band of chip home ball systems. Adagio was launched in April 2006 with the AADS, AES and AAE. Most recently, Crestron appear the AMS and AMS-AIP. Adagio is one of the a lot of accepted and alarmingly acclaimed artefact curve in the industry.

“We are actual aflame to acceptable Keith as a affiliate of the Crestron team,” declared Randy Klein, Executive Vice President of Crestron. “He has a accurate almanac of success in the broadcast audio and home amphitheater markets which I am assured will abide announcement our award-winning Adagio line.”

Kennedy co-founded a successful, custom affiliation close and expertly managed sales and business responsibilities. He is aswell awful able in the designing award-winning systems to accommodated chump needs in form, action and implementation.

While at Niles Audio, Kennedy was amenable for artefact management, developing specifications, advancement technology roadmaps and instituting anniversary sales and acquirement plans. At Crestron, he will play a analytical role in new artefact development, and creating and active strategies for greater bazaar penetration.

“After so abounding years in this industry, I was destroyed abroad the aboriginal time I visited the accessories at Crestron based on the akin of professionalism and capabilities,” said Kennedy. “I’m aflame about the approaching abeyant of our new artefact curve and in abutting such an aberrant and committed team.”

Keith can be accomplished at 201.367.1065 or kkennedy@crestron.com.